# CARC 289 denial code on dental claims > What does denial code CARC 289 mean on a dental claim, and can it be appealed? URL: https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-289 Last verified: 2026-08-30 Dentovio is an independent publisher — not a payer, the ADA, X12, CAQH CORE, or any government agency. Code meanings and remark-code meanings on this page are Dentovio's own wording, written from the official X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Code and Remittance Advice Remark Code lists and linked back to them; X12 holds the copyright in those lists and its descriptions are not reproduced here. CDT codes are referenced by number only; CDT is the American Dental Association's copyrighted code set and this page does not reproduce ADA descriptors. Appealability verdicts are Dentovio editorial classification, not a standard. Every fact traces to the code steward's registry, a federal rule or manual, a HIPAA operating rule, an association publication, or a named payer's own document — never to a billing blog. This page was drafted with AI assistance and verified against the primary sources linked here. It has not been reviewed by a credentialed dental billing specialist, attorney, or clinician. Educational billing reference only — not billing, legal, or clinical advice. Plan contracts control individual outcomes, and processing policies usually live in the payer's provider manual rather than in the signed agreement. ## Direct answer On a dental remittance, CARC 289 means: Neither the dental plan nor the medical plan covers the services, so no benefit is available on either side. X12 assigns it no group code, so the group code on the remittance is the payer's choice under its own contract and it, not the CARC, decides who is assigned the balance. No source read for this page pairs a specific remark code with it. Dentovio's appealability verdict — structural: verify the plan terms. Both plans' terms would have to change for this to pay. What is worth verifying is that both were actually adjudicated, and against the right plans — a stale plan on either side produces this result wrongly. Registry entry: X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Code 289 — active, with no deactivation date. Read on the list published 2025-11-01. Group code: X12 places no group-code restriction on 289. A group code always travels with a CARC, and it — not the CARC — assigns financial responsibility, so read the one on your remittance rather than assuming. ## What it means in dental context The terminal case of the dental-medical crossover workflow. Where 254, 270, and 290 route a claim between the two carriers, 289 says the routing is over. ## Appealability: Structural — verify the plan terms The appealability verdicts on these pages are Dentovio's editorial classification. No standards body or payer publishes an appealability taxonomy: X12 defines what a code means, not what to do about it. Each verdict is built from the code's own mechanics and the payer and federal documents cited on the page, and it is a starting point for triage rather than a prediction of any outcome. The denial reflects a plan term such as an exclusion or exhausted limit. Verify that the payer used the correct plan and facts before deciding how the contract assigns responsibility. Both plans' terms would have to change for this to pay. What is worth verifying is that both were actually adjudicated, and against the right plans — a stale plan on either side produces this result wrongly. ## What to do 1. Confirm both carriers adjudicated the current plans, not terminated ones 2. Check whether the service was submitted in the format each carrier requires; a rejected format is not a coverage decision 3. Move to the patient conversation with both determinations in hand ## Remark codes No source read for this page pairs a remark code with CARC 289. X12 defines no CARC-to-RARC pairings at all: payer crosswalks are specific to that payer's own internal reason codes, and the CAQH CORE combination list binds only payers operating inside its business scenarios. Read the remark code on your own remittance. ## Read with this code - [CARC 254 — You file it with medical](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-254/index.html.md) - [CARC 270 — Medical says file dental](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-270/index.html.md) - [CARC 290 — Forwarded to medical](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/carc-290/index.html.md) ## Sources - X12 Claim Adjustment Reason Codes (external code list 139) (list updated 2025-11-01): - X12 Remittance Advice Remark Codes (external code list 411) (list updated 2026-07-01): - 45 CFR 162.1602 — HIPAA adoption of the 835 remittance standard that carries these codes: ## Related - [Dental billing and claims hub](https://dentovio.com/dental-billing/index.html.md) - [All dental denial codes](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/index.html.md) - [Payer documentation requirements](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-documentation/index.html.md) - [Dental insurance prompt-pay laws by state](https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/index.html.md) - [Dental claim appeal letters](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-appeal-letters/index.html.md)